


Welcome to the Hercules Café!

by Savorysavery



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4
Genre: Comedy, Maid Cafe AU, Multi, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-17
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-31 01:04:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3958606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Savorysavery/pseuds/Savorysavery





	Welcome to the Hercules Café!

**Summary:** Yu Narukami decides to open Inaba's first ever male muscle maid cafe.

 **Genre:** Romance, Comedy

 **Rated:** T+

 

 **Author’s Note:** Originally, this idea was to use only the Persona 4 characters, but after thinking about Persona Q, I decided to pull in Persona 3 characters, hence the massive character tags. I think this will be a fun series to write, and will hopefully come off light hearted. Also, this takes place in a world where the P3 protagonist is alive, and is set about six years after the events of Persona, making most of the characters in their twenties, save for Nanako who is 13 and Ken who 18. Also, because this is an AU, any cannon character deaths will not be counted, although pretty much all events of the games occurred.

 

* * *

 

 

It was Yu Narukami’s idea to build a café in Inaba.

 

He’d been gone from the town for nearly five years, back to Tokyo to finish up his final year of high school and then four years of study at the University of Tokyo graduating with a degree in both Education and Linguistics.

 

Inaba had somehow pulled him back after his final year: he’d claimed a desire for a break and had moved back in with Dojima and a now teenage Nanako, reclaiming his bedroom upstairs. Once more, he became an Inaba native, working part-time at Yasogami High School and taking on odd-jobs.

 

It’d been a sound idea: moving back had given him back his friends, all of whom had moved back on their own accord to: Yukiko and Kanji to their family establishments, Chie to teach Physical Education at the high school, Yosuke to run the Junes branch, and Naoto to set up her own private detective agency for the region. Rise herself still lived there, travelling to Tokyo for work as needed.

 

They all met up regularly, like they had before when they were solving the murders, drinking and snacking under the covered pavilion at the Junes food court. It was a soothing sort of routine that assured him he had done the right thing.

 

Yet after four months, monotony set in, and Yu realized he wanted more.

 

The more came one night at the Shiroku Pub when Yu had met up with all the guys –Daisuke, Yosuke, Kanji, and Kou– for cold beers and take-out from Aiya. They’d been laughing over some bawdy joke Yosuke told, happily buzzed and utterly relaxed.

 

Then it hit Yu: rather, an idea occurred.

 

 _Slam!_ Yu’s fist hit the smooth wooden bar top hard, making a sound smack. Yosuke, Kou, Daisuke and Kanji looked up at him, all their eyebrows raised. “I’m going to open a café.”

 

“…Say what?” Kanji bellowed, eyes practically popping out of their sockets. He reeled back so much Daisuke had to push him forward so he wouldn’t fall.

 

“I’m going to open a café, _here_ , in Inaba,” Yu said. “We can work it and–”

 

“We?” Kou said, leaning forward a bit. He propped his cheek up on his arm, heel of his palm digging into his left cheek. “Dude, we _all_ have jobs.” He took a swig of his beer and set the glass back down on the counter, sloshing a bit out. “How are _we_ going to run a bar?”

 

“Café,” Yu clarified. “And I work part-time. I’ll work after school and at night. Weekends too, since there’s only a half day of classes.” He nodded sternly, grey eyes narrowed in concentration. “I’ll be exhausted, but I can do it.”

 

“But a café though?” Yosuke asked. “There’s already one in Junes.”

 

“It’s not just _any_ café. It’ll be for women,” Yu said, taking a drink of his beer. “And we’ll be the waiters.” No one added anything, and Yu was glad that Yosuke quickly changed the topic.

 

* * *

 

 

Yu found a place in early July: an abandoned bakery down in the central shopping district strip, right on the main drag.

 

It was a two story building with an attic, split for a store below –the old bakery– and a living apartment above. Though all of the equipment and furnishing had been stripped, old, European-esque chandlers hung in the seating area of the bakery, and the kitchens were more than ample to handle Yu’s ambitions. Coupled with the bathrooms –he’d have to get new toilets and refresh those completely– it was a nice sized shop, just the size to manage and keep up.

 

The apartment was more than suitable too: two bedrooms, a separated toilet and bath, and a living room and kitchen the same size of Dojima’s, with a similar layout. Sitting down in the center of the open space made the big picture come together and a day later, Yu decided to pursue purchasing the place.

 

After nights of crunching numbers – Yu begged Naoto’s help, not telling her what _exactly_ he was looking to buy it for– he knew the store was meant to be his, and emptied his savings account with a loan for eleven million yen, fortunately with a small interest rate. He traded ten million of it for the property rights, and two weeks afterwards, was the owner of the barebones for his café.

 

Yu had never been impulsive, but as soon as he sat down in the dusty, open room, he realized how impulsive he _had_ been. After all, restaurants were a risk, and they didn’t have the aid of a city crowd: Inaba didn’t care for glitz and glam, tending towards a more rustic sentiment. Even the crowd of Okina City would have ensured that Yu’s business would have a steady crowd of high schoolers attending.

 

“Well, what’s done is done,” he said, standing up and clapping his hands together. “I’ll _make_ it a success.” He was deadest on making this the real deal

 

For weeks after, Yu scrubbed down the old wooden floors and the wallpaper, tossing dozens of black and grey washcloths out each day. He’d come home to Nanako’s cheerful smile covered in grime and smelling of disinfectant, and she’d run the bath for him, spooning up an extra helping of dinner when he could hardly sit up straight. He was immensely grateful for her care and kind hand: it made the slow uphill climb easier.

 

October came around and finally, the building was sanitary enough for him to start putting in furniture. He turned to Rise and Yukiko for advice: Rise for a more fun, modern color scheme and Yukiko for her smart arrangements. Together, they furnished twelve tables, four seats each, new kitchenware, fresh, mocha brown wallpaper and a slew of furniture for Yu’s would-be apartment upstairs from the local industry.

 

By the time month four was there, Yu had retiled the kitchen and replaced the old wood in the bathroom, fitting in three new urinals and five new toilets –two in the men’s restroom and three in the women’s–  and even found a plug in for a washer and dryer in the back offices, perfect for doing cleaning in house.

 

Truly, Yu Narukami had ultimately transformed the shop from dead end to upbeat.

 

“Wow,” he whispered, one dark night, hanging a curtain rod in one of the front windows. He let the rod drop in its supports and pulled the charming, navy blue curtains across the window. “It looks really great.” He was proud of himself too: he’d pulled it together, even though he’d exhausted almost all of the funds left from the loan.

 

Sighing, Yu sat down in a chair at a table laden with candles and electronic lanterns, looking around the seating area. It looked like a Tokyo café, stylish and cool, tables covered in fresh, white tablecloths with new, glossy menus. Everything looked clean and ready for opening day. “If only I knew when _that_ would be,” Yu whispered.

 

He pulled out his phone and thumbed through the calendar, worrying his lip as he looked through the dates. None seemed good enough: too soon, too close to a holiday, or just… not spectacular. Then it occurred to him, on that cool, autumn night, that he knew the perfect day to open.

 

 _New Years Day_. He could make it a grand event and go all out with the last of the money, fill the room with lanterns and paper stars, buy tons of mochi from the grandmother that made it up the road by hand, have Yukiko help him brew pots of spiced teas, have whoever he planned to work for him dress up in nice suits for the hopefully large crowd that’d be drawn to the café. It’d be an elegant start to this new venture. “Perfect,” Yu whispered.

 

Quickly, Yu thumbed out a group message to the guys, texting them the address with an added, “Hurry over, I want to show you something” just in case. To his surprise, they all came together at the same time, knocking on the front door loudly.

 

“Hey, senpai, you in there?” Kanji’s voice boomed. Yu shot up from his chair and ran to the door, weaving between the tables.

 

“H-Hey,” he said, panting lightly. He stepped outside of the door, placing himself between him and the café entrance.

 

“Hey back at you,” Kou said. Daisuke grinned, waving merrily.

 

“So, what did you wanna show up, partner?” Yosuke asked, peering around Yu. He couldn’t see much: the door’s window had a curtain hiding the inside.

 

“I…” Yu paused, and nodded to himself. “Let me just show you.”

 

He turned around and twisted the doorknob, and a _click_ sounded as it swung in. The light of the lanterns bloomed in a corona around Yu and he stepped inside, shifting so the guys could follow. “Welcome to the Hercules Café,” Yu said, grinning as wide as he could.

 


End file.
